The Qinling Mountains are revered as one of the towering mountains of Chinese civilization.

Lying in the hinterland of the Central Plains in the land of China, it is located in the central town of the world, overlooking the east and west.

From today's geography, the Qinling Mountains are divided into large and small, the so-called "small" Qinling Mountains refer to the high mountains and rivers in the Shaanxi and Han regions in the ancient sense, which traverse 800 miles from east to west, starting from the Danjiang River Valley in the east and ending at the Jialing River in the west.

The definition of the "large" Qinling Mountains is much broader, starting from Kunlun in the east and ending in the Dabie Mountains in the west, dividing the two major mother river basins of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, which is the ancestral vein of cutting off the north and south in the true sense.

Throughout history, there have been too many anecdotes in the Qinling Mountains, countless major historical turning points have occurred here, many celebrities and wise men have been hidden here, and half of the history of China in Qinling Mountain.

Among these many stories, there are some stories that are dressed in mystery, and they are just vaguely circulated among the people.

Speaking of the past, it was already eighty or ninety years ago.

Long before the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the junction of Longyou and Shaanxi and Han, adjacent to the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, there was a county seat called Jiaxian, which was still under the rule of the Republic of China at that time, and was an old county seat.

One summer, when torrential rains continued, Jia County was located in a low-lying area, and there was an abandoned reservoir directly above it, which fell into disrepair and caused the water level to rise sharply, eventually breaking the embankment.

The flood went all the way down and was about to swallow up the downstream Jiaxian, fortunately there was an aqueduct dug in the early years of the county, but the aqueduct was also an old antique decades ago that could only guide the most destructive torrent away, and there was still a stream of water that overflowed into the county, fortunately, the momentum weakened and did not cause a major disaster, but the county and its surroundings were flooded, and the water was waist-deep.

The citizens of the prefecture who escaped a catastrophe are grateful, but everyone did not expect a hidden catastrophe to be prepared.

Three days after the flood, the flooding in the city receded, and just as people went home to tend to their soaked furniture and belongings, something was wrong.

At first, some people found that the furniture in the home was bitten and tattered, because it is impossible for blisters to soak tooth marks, and later this kind of situation became more and more frequent.

It wasn't until two days later that the culprit was discovered, and it was a group of large black rats, which were markedly different from the house mice and voles that the county residents had seen before, the most notable being the body size, which was more than half the size.

These rats are not only huge, but also extremely fierce, and they are not afraid of people, and when they see someone coming to drink, they bared their mouths and showed a pair of long teeth to make a threatening "squeak" sound.

These rats go around stealing food and biting all kinds of utensils.

Later, it became more and more serious, and almost the entire county was plagued by rats, and even cats could not deal with this group of "thugs".

The people of the county couldn't bear it, so they bought rat medicine, and the whole county distributed it, preparing for a national rodent extermination campaign.

The day after the application of the pesticide, a large number of rat carcasses were cleaned up, almost piled up into a meat slope.

But then people were horrified to find that the number of rats in the county town did not decrease but increased, and in only half a day, these black shadows could be seen everywhere in the whole county, and even crawling everywhere on the road.

An unimaginable outbreak of rats, from the discovery of these rats to the loss of control only three or four days in the past, almost the entire county has fallen, people dare not spend the night at home, just because these rats are not afraid of people, many people are bitten off the bridge of the nose and fingers, and even bitten through the throat in their sleep.

For a while, all kinds of terrifying atmospheres broke out.

Some people in the county said that they should report to the top and let people come down to deal with the rat infestation, but the government of the Republic of China at that time had already taken care of itself in a stormy situation, and there were disasters and disasters everywhere, and there was no time to take care of the affairs of this remote small county.

In the end, the residents of Jia County had to find their own way.

This county town has existed since the previous dynasties, and most of the people living in it believe in the feudal superstitions of the older generation, believing that this rat plague came suddenly and inexplicably, and when it was a natural disaster, the natural disaster should be prayed for to be solved.

At that moment, a group of people were sent to invite the old Taoist priest from a Taoist temple more than 100 miles away.

After hearing this, Lao Dao's white eyebrows furrowed, and he sighed and said, "I can't solve this calamity." But the stakes are high, and I am going to invite a man to come, thinking that he is the only one in the world who can save this situation. You have to wait for me one day. ”

The people of the county waited anxiously for a day, and the next morning, Lao Dao brought a person to come. According to the accounts of the people who saw the man at the time, the man was covered in black silk cloth all over his body, leaving only one right eye exposed.

Although everyone didn't understand why this person was dressed like this, Lao Dao also said that only he could solve it now, so he had to ask this stranger to cast a spell first.

saw that the man in black ignored everyone at all, and just strode into the county occupied by the rats.

Strange to say, no one dared to approach this rat infestation after the outbreak, just because those rats pounced on people when they saw them, and seemed to treat people as food.

It's just that as soon as the man in black entered, the rats that were originally scurrying around like crazy seemed to be frightened, and flew away from the man in black.

The man in black wandered around the county, and everywhere he went, the rats retreated, and everyone was surprised and surprised, only that the stars came down to earth, otherwise how could there be such a strange force.

After that, the man in black followed up with the retreating rat swarm, and found a few dry wells in the county seat, and after inspecting the location of several dry wells, the man in black ran all the way to the northeast of the county, and everyone followed all the way over.

Finally, less than a hundred zhang away from the county seat, the man in black ordered everyone to dig up a slope. Although the people were puzzled, they could only do so, and when they dug down, they found that the ground was empty.

After spending a lot of work, a tunnel was cleared.

At this time, someone in the county revealed that this was a simple underground fortification dug during the Anti-Japanese War, but after the underground fortification was dug up, it surrendered in a small day, and this fortification was also abandoned.

Originally, this was an absolute secret during the war, and after a long time, not many people participated in this project, and it was gradually forgotten.

At this time, everyone suddenly realized that the abandoned underground fortification had become a huge rat's nest, and the underground fortification was connected to several dry wells in the county, and the previous waterlogging poured the flood into the ground, flooding the rat's nest and causing a flock of rats to flood.

At this time, the man in black spoke: "I'm afraid it's not that simple." ”

According to those who had heard the man's voice back then, the voice of the man in black was chilling, like the creaking sound of mechanical friction.

After saying that, the man in black was silent for a moment, and then said, "At this moment, there is no delay. ”

Everyone heard the clouds and mountains and fog, and they didn't know what to do.

I only heard the man in black continue: "Now I will go down, if I don't come out in two days, I will find someone to fill in this tunnel, and the dry wells in the county will also be filled." ”

Before everyone could react, the man in black jumped into the hole he had just dug up, and several flickering figures disappeared into the hole.

Although some people wanted to dissuade them, but the tunnel was really dark and in disrepair, and everyone was afraid of collapsing, so they could only wait at the entrance of the cave.

As a result, they waited for two days, but no one came out of the cave, and everyone was anxious but did not really fill in the hole, hoping to wait for the person to come back.

But after waiting for two more days and no one came out, not to mention the danger that lay down there, and not eating or drinking for four days and four nights alone would cause people to collapse, and at last it was really not possible, so the people did as the man commanded, and filled in the holes, and then turned back and filled in the dry wells.

Strange to say, in the two days since then, the rat tide has quietly receded, and there is not a single one left.

Even the house mice of the past are gone.

Now that time has passed, there are few people who remember the events of the past, and even if some descendants hear this legend, they just laugh it off.

It's just that when the old people in the village encountered natural and man-made disasters in the old era and couldn't solve them, they had to make up a story about a stranger who went down to earth to save sentient beings.

"It's interesting, thank you old man"

After listening to this story, Li Heng got up and smiled and thanked the old man in front of him.

"Then may I ask if this is Jia County back then?"

The old man with a black and white handkerchief wrapped around his head shook his head with the few yellow teeth left in his mouth and said, "No, no, almost gone......"

"Only, the death of the last person who remembered the story...... Jia County, it's gone."